Comparison Shopping for Knee Surgery

The same procedure might cost $20,000 or $120,000. Here's one way to bring down prices.

By

James C. Robinson

Oct. 27, 2013 5:35 p.m. ET

Here we go again. The Affordable Care Act intends to transform the health-care system, extend coverage, reduce costs and increase quality—all without asking anything of the patients. Consumers will pay with higher taxes, of course, but otherwise will face no incentives to make wise choices, compare price with performance or shop for value. Doctors, hospitals, insurers and, most of all, the government will do that for them, which is hardly reassuring. This reflects what I call the "impossibility theorem" in health care....